Patterned in Rubies
by TungstenCat
Summary: On a night like tonight, Rin always liked to see things proceeding as planned. She would summon Saber, they would get along perfectly, and they would obliterate the competition and win the Grail in three days. She would be in control, composed, and satisfied with the results. As usual with Rin Tohsaka, results never cooperated with her desires.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **I have about a hundred requests and planned works I _should _be working on. But my brain hates me and insists on jumping on whatever new shiny emerges in my mental wasteland, so here we are.

* * *

The snakeskin rustled with the sigh of old paper as Rin gingerly lifted it from its box. It felt thin and dry against her fingers, a husk shrivelled under the sun. Brown markings patterned across the almost translucent white, the memories of ancient scales.

It was strangely beautiful in its way, shining pale under the candlelight. Or perhaps her mind simply made it so. Because the skin represented her hopes, her strength, her very life in the coming nights. She stood on the eve of a bloody conflict, the Holy Grail War that had killed scores of magi before her. Even her father had fallen to it. As the heir to one of the founding families, she had no choice but to be involved. And without a Servant, she wouldn't make it through the week.

This was it, then. Succeed in the summoning ritual, or die.

She shivered, but it was entirely due to the cold of the basement. Certainly not fear of death, for she had long ago accepted that possibility. A magus walked hand in hand with death, as her father had always said. As that twisted aesthete of a priest had confirmed, part of his lectures on the beauty of suffering.

Rin grit her teeth. She could do this. She had been born for this War, raised to it, trained and prepared her whole life. She would triumph and fulfill her father's dream for the Root. And all her sacrifices, all her blood and sweat and tears—

—_Her mother's eyes, glassier than any flawed jewel, as she sat in her wheelchair while Rin chattered away about her schedule for the day, desperate for a smile or a frown of disapproval or any reaction, just so long as Mother _saw _her—_

—_Her friends' bentos, tucked neatly under their arms as they waved at her on their way out. She waved cheerfully back, a smile plastered on her face as she struggled to keep her feet from following the warmth of their boasts and laughter. The Crest burned ice against her arm, reminding her once again of the vast distance between them, deeper than any chasm—_

—_Her aching knees, broken on the cold floor of her basement, her head spinning from fatigue and blood loss, and still she stubbornly reached for a fresh set of gems, placed them around the crimson circle for yet another attempt—_

—would be worth it. Had to be worth it, or she might shatter under the weight of her regrets.

She forced herself to breathe. She would make it work. She ran her hands again over the crinkled surface of the shed, the same catalyst her father had held a decade ago. The catalyst that would grant her the strongest Servant and assure her victory.

_The strongest Servant? Don't make me laugh. How could he be, if he couldn't even save Father?_

The thought rose up unbidden, just long enough to make her tremble, before she managed to shove it back down into its cage. _No, _she growled to herself, _I can't start doubting now. _She had cast her dice, set her fate, and all that remained was to see it through.

She checked the clock on the wall. The cold, marble face read one-thirty. It was time.

Rin picked up the small chest on the table and reached inside, felt the gemstones lying cold and hard against velvet. She winced as she grabbed a fistful, the first of many. The contents represented half of the jewels left to her, a stark reminder that she could not afford to fail – figuratively _and _literally. Even if by some miracle she managed to avoid the War, she would still have to give up magecraft due to sheer financial ruin.

She bent over the runic circle engraved in the floor, painstakingly carved into the stone by her great-grandfather. As she did, she reached down deep into her mind, to find the knife that formed the conceptual trigger for her magic circuits. Ruthlessly she plunged it into her heart, bore the spiritual shock with stoicism born of long practice. Her arm burned with cold fire as her Crest flared to life.

Mana pulsed along her circuits as she murmured the spell, feeling the jewels in her hand pulse with sudden heat. Hotter and hotter, until the heat searing her palm was almost unbearable despite the protective magic, but she forced herself to hold on as the stones melted into a thick liquid. She could not afford to waste a single drop.

_Drip. Drip. _Carefully she filled each line and whirl with molten gems, trailing each burning drop along her forefinger. Then she painted the runes in each concentric circle and along each edge, with precision down to the millimetre. Her eyes hurt with the strain, but she bit her lip and made herself work slowly. In a ritual of such power, the smallest mistake could be fatal.

Several times she melted another handful of jewels, and each time the circle closed a little further. Instead of the familiar crimson of blood, it shone with every hue of the rainbow, brilliant even under the flickering candles. She might have thought it beautiful if she'd had the mental energy to spare for it.

As she worked, she recited the words she had been practicing for almost a decade, every syllable seared into her mind.

"_Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the Archduke of Contracts be the foundation. Let white be the colour I pay tribute to. Let my great Master Schweinorg be the ancestor_."

The air seemed to grow colder, settling on her shoulders as a mantle of black ice. She thought she heard something high and sweet in the distance, a musical note ringing out across an impossible ocean. She frowned, refusing to be distracted as she raised her voice, clear and bold among the shadows.

She was the heir of Tohsaka, the daughter of great magi. She would not fail here. She would not.

"_Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road lead from the Crown and reach unto the kingdom."_

A soft glow crept along the circle, illuminating each line and run in pale white. She bit her lip and fought the trembling in her hands as she continued, the gemstones oozing to fill the last gaps in the pattern.

"_Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Five times for each repetition. Then destroy the filled time."_

As she pronounced the final word, she let the last of the liquid drip to form the final rune. Blue-white radiance suddenly flared between the points of the inscribed star, drowning out the candles entirely. The magic in the room was palpable now, pulled from the air around her and concentrated in that otherworldly light. And now she could recognize the tolling of a distant bell, the pure sound of silver striking crystal.

She smiled grimly as she took her position at the edge of the circle, cradling the snakeskin in her hand. She spared one last glance at the time. Two o'clock, the peak of her magic power. Exactly as planned.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it reverberate through her. Rin Tohsaka was no longer human, she told herself. She had to believe it. Because no human could bear what would happen next.

"_Anfang_," she whispered, and braced herself.

Mana poured through her in a sudden flood, lightning coursing down every nerve until it might burst. Raw magical energy burned through her, a sudden blaze of pain chased by icy winds stripping her to the bone, then acid in her belly eating her from the inside—

Even as her nerves screamed in pain, she held on. For with that agony came power, the power to work a miracle. She felt a rising triumph as words keep spilling from her lips.

" _I announce. I will command your body, your sword will command my fate. If you would submit to the Grail's call and obey my mind and reason, then answer me!"_

Distantly she saw shadows thrashing along the walls, before her vision was ruthlessly and remorselessly cut off. Icy wind rushed around her, lifting her hair and clothes with freezing fingers. The bell was still far away, lost in the mists of that other world, yet also frighteningly close. It rang high and clear and sharp in her ears.

She clenched the skin in her hand as she faced the gale, her voice hoarse with her resolve.

"_An oath shall be sworn here! I shall attain all the virtues of all of Heaven. I shall have dominion over all the evils of all of Hell. From the Seventh Heaven clad in the Three Great words, come forth from the ring of control, Guardian of the Holy Balance!"_

A sharp crack, the sound of a bell splitting in two and crashing to the ground. White light so nova-bright she could feel it burn against her skin, even with her vision lost to her. Power rushed out of her, violently pulled from her every circuit as the sharp tang of ozone filled the air.

And Rin Tohsaka grinned to herself, even as she staggered and almost fell. The burn in her circuits, the harsh static of spent mana, all of it could mean only one thing.

She had succeeded. No, more than succeeded, she must have drawn the strongest Servant, for the spell to react so violently. She couldn't wait for her vision to clear. Would her Saber be clad in shining armor and holy sword, a paladin from the greatest epics? Or would his shield be battered and ruined, his blade drenched in blood? She didn't care, so long as he was hers.

Silence stretched on as she blinked against the darkness, marked only by the muted ticking of the clock. The smell of electricity dissipated, leaving behind a vague coppery taste on her tongue and in her nostrils. Finally she could see light again, the candles small and weak compared to the blaze of the circle.

The circle. She stared at its dull etchings, the jewels dull and lifeless. It was entirely empty.

"No..."

Her eyes stared unbelievingly at the space where her Servant should have been, willing there to be a glint of armor, a hint of metal, anything. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

"No! No, I can't accept this. I won't accept this!"

Her heart hammered in her chest, panic rising in her blood. Desperately she forced herself to think through, to explain it, anything to keep herself from screaming.

_Impossible. This is impossible_. She knew she had been chosen as Master. It was her right as the heir to Tohsaka. Any doubt had been dispelled by the burning itch, the glowing marks on the back of her hand, the precursor to the Command Seals. The ritual then? But no, she had done everything perfectly, followed every step as practiced a hundred times. She had burned an ocean of power, she had heard the toll of the otherworldly bell that heralded the opening of the gates—

—_you failed you failed and now you'll die just like Father but nobody will even remember your name you're just a failure you—_

She pulled savagely at the skin in her hands, almost tearing it in the anger born of fear. In that moment she wanted to rip it to pieces to paint a tapestry that would match the last shreds of hope that were rapidly slipping through her fingers.

"Why? I did _everything _you asked for, everything you ever wanted of me. So why?!"

She raised her hand, maybe to tear it off and fling it to the ground, maybe to drive her fist into the wall, maybe to kick the desk her father had left her into pieces; she just needed to make a meaningless gesture to vent her rage and ease the choking in her throat. But as she did, a red glow caught her eye. Red lines, burning on the back of her hand.

Command Seals.

A flood of relief washed over her. She had not failed then. She still had a chance. She still—

A sudden explosion sent her staggering anew. It roared from upstairs, almost deafening in the closed space of the basement. She felt the floor shake under her, bottles and crystals flying off the shelves to shatter against the floor.

An attack already? She really did have the worst luck.

_Where the hell is my Servant? _Not here in the basement, that was certain. Maybe he was already fighting upstairs? She hesitated—she felt absolutely drained, every circuit a dull ache in her body—but she couldn't just hide here while her home was assaulted. She had her pride as a Tohsaka.

She grit her teeth as she ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time in her haste. Her hand slipped into her pocket, closed around the rubies secreted there.

The living room door was broken, impossibly crooked within its frame. She had no time to coax it loose.

"You're in my way!"

She kicked it hard, sending it crashing open. She burst into the living room, two gems held threateningly between her fingers. If nothing else, she could have the element of surprise.

Then everything faded before the vision that greeted her. A radiant woman, as regal as any lioness as she lounged on a throne of gold. Red eyes swept down the throngs of people shouting their devotion, their love for her, and she rewarded them with a proud smile. Shining hair of the richest orange-blonde tumbled carelessly down her shoulders to meet black cloth and fine gold armor. Still the majority of her torso was bare, showing off the toned figure of a warrioress born, marked with jagged lines of red to emphasize her fierceness.

Rin stared, unmoving. She was lost in the aura of power radiating from the woman, threatening to overwhelm her with its sheer force. The splendor of sun shining down on gold, the roar of the crowd, the scent of sweet herbs burning in a brazier.

Then she blinked and the scene was gone, replaced with the ruins of her living room. It was a disaster of broken chairs and collapsed furniture, torn curtains and shattered glass. The golden throne was just a fallen bookcase, resting at an awkward angle against the remains of her table. But still the woman sat upon it, as haughty as any empress. And Rin couldn't help but feel small as those scarlet eyes turned to her. Brazenly looked her up and down, considered her.

Then the woman grinned at her. "Hah! Rejoice, mongrel, for you have the king's own luck! Now that you have summoned me, all your troubles have come to their end."

She spoke in a rich alto, sweet and smoky as the best golden-brown mead in her father's cellars. It was honey poured directly into the ears, with just a bit of hard bite underneath. Rin found herself savouring its sound until the words registered, then stared disbelievingly at the woman. Did she really just call her a—

"Nothing to say, mongrel? I suppose it is to be expected,' the woman preened. "My brilliance is that of the sun, after all!"

Rin ground her teeth. She might be beautiful, but her Servant was also unspeakably obnoxious. "I am your _Master_," she bit out. She glared as she lifted her hand, showing the seals tattooed in red.

The haughty expression remained firmly in place—no, it intensified. "That remains to be seen. You may have summoned me, but surely you don't expect to command the king? No, rather, it is the other way around. I will command, and you will attend me."

"Excuse me?" Rin's temper, always the chink in the iron of her self-control, flared up hot and bright in her breast. "Just who the _hell _do you think you are?"

"Are you unable to recognize me at a glance? How far have mortal eyes fallen!" The woman rose from her seat, moving with elegance and controlled strength. Rin knew herself beautiful, but even she never managed such an easy grace.

_Damn her, does she have to look _that _good_? Still she maintained her frown. She was the heir of Tohsaka. She would not lose her composure with a simple motion, no matter how appealing her Servant.

If the woman saw her inner turmoil, she gave no indication of it. Instead she grinned again as she lifted her arms high, gauntlets flashing gold. "I am Gilgamesh, King of Heroes! Be honoured that I have chosen to answer your call, and fall before my stunning beauty!"

"Not likely—wait, Gilgamesh?" Rin's brain caught up with her, forcing her mouth open in disbelief. "Gilgamesh of Uruk? _That _Gilgamesh?"

"The very same! Hah, now you realize the full depth of your good fortune!"

"But you're..." The most ancient of heroes, dating back to the earliest epics known to humankind. The snakeskin had been hidden away in her father's deepest effect, without a letter or an explanation. But now she understood her Father's boast that he would have the strongest weapon.

"You were my—" She bit down on her lip, choked the rest of the words threatening to pour from her lips. No, now was not the time for that. Right now she had to establish her Mastership.

At her Servant's raised eyebrow, she cleared her throat and crossed her arms, unconsciously assuming the 'lecturing' pose she was famous for among the students of Homurahara. "_Ahem_. You are my Servant? Then explain this!" She waved her hand, encompassing the rubble, "Why on earth did you destroy my living room? Is this your idea of a show of power?"

"Don't insult me, mongrel. As if I would resort to something so crude. I simply appeared in this broken hovel, not fit for a personage of my status. Rather, _you _should be begging _my_ forgiveness."

"You—!" She was about to launch into a tirade, when her eyes happen to fall upon the wall clock that had miraculously escaped the devastation. The clock which now read ten past two o' clock, which meant—she flinched. Which meant it was actually one o'clock, wasn't it? Because the clocks had been set an hour late, and why was she remembering this _only now_? She could have kicked herself, if it wouldn't make her look even more ridiculous. The Tohsaka curse once again, she raged to herself, that ability to get everything right only to botch a crucial detail at the final hour. She had been short of her full magical strength, but acted as if she had access to it all. Which meant...

Which meant that this mess was probably her fault.

She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. Alright, fine, she made a mistake. That still didn't excuse _this _amount of damage. And that arrogant smirk, placed mockingly below the elegant ridge of a nose that many girls would die for, did not help matters at all. Time to grab what shreds of dignity she had left and throw them over her shoulder. Her mantle as Master might be a bit tattered, but she would still wear it.

She lifted her chin, ready to order her Servant to clean up the mess. But try as her brain might to force the words out, they withered on her tongue every time she looked into that face. That noble face, with its clever eyes and widening grin watching her with growing amusement. It was _wrong_ to imagine it bent over a dustpan, as impossible as caging the sun to heat her tea.

She almost backed down entirely, but the silver wire of her pride snaked up her shoulders and straightened them. Fine, she wouldn't order around her Servant like a drudge. She still needed to place herself on _some _kind of even footing, before she found herself floundering helplessly in the Servant's wake.

She glared at the woman. "Very well. I'll accept this is both our faults."

"My fault?" asked the king incredulously as if she had just declared the sky green.

"Yes. I may have made a small error in the ritual, but a Servant as powerful as you should have been able to mitigate the damage. So we'll do it like this."

Rin grabbed the broom and dustpan from the broken cupboard in the corner. She kicked against the nearest collapsed shelf, a maple-wood giant lying heavily on its side. "You lift, I clean. That shouldn't be such a great offense to the king's dignity, right? And we're supposed to be working as a team anyway. Think of this as practice."

Red eyes widened in astonishment before narrowing dangerously. The king's lips compressed into a grim line. Still Rin forced herself to stand tall. If she backed off now, quailed under those fierce red eyes, she might never find the courage to meet them again.

Then suddenly Gilgamesh burst out laughing, merry peals that vibrated in the air and hung there like a blaze of sunlight. Laughter without the slightest shame or restraint.

She leaned forward to grab Rin by the chin, turning the sputtering magus' face this way and that.

"Good! At least you have some fire to match your looks. You may make a suitable handmaiden after all."

"What?" growled Rin. " How dare you-"

"Fuahahaha! Don't yelp so, mongrel. You should be proud to be chosen by the king." She glanced around the room, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Very well, then. This shelf first?"

"Obviously," said Rin, not bothering to mask her irritation.

But Gilgamesh only laughed as she hooked a hand underneath the massive piece of furniture. She yanked it up as easily as Rin might have lifted a teapot, not the least bit of strain visible in her muscled arm. Admirable strength, but in such an infuriating woman.

_No, don't give her the satisfaction of seeing you angry. And didn't you just say you wanted to work as a team? You have to show her you mean _it.

So Rin contented herself with a huff as she swept up the broken glass. She muttered to herself as she melted each gathered shard back into the swinging cabinet doors with a quick bit of spellwork. It was more tiring than she cared to admit, but she did not dare complain. She could not show weakness, not after she had already screwed up up the summoning.

They worked in silence for a little while. Gilgamesh hauled up each piece of furniture under her direction, smiling with an indulgence that raised Rin's hackles a little higher with each passing moment. Then the magus would attempt to quell it by busying herself with the dust and splinters, which worked until the next time she glanced at her Servant's face and saw the mocking laughter in those eyes.

She was about to hurl down the pan and give her a piece of her mind, king or no king, when Gilgamesh suddenly threw aside the curtain rod she had just extracted from the rubble.

"This ceases to amuse, and we have much to do. You've shown your diligence, now watch your king settle the matter." She snapped her fingers. "Behold!"

Before Rin's dumbfounded gaze, a golden portal appeared in the air behind her, rotating slowly in the air. A fine leather bag emerged, thrust forth by an invisible hand. The red cord wrapped tightly around its mouth came loose. Then a roar of rushing air and strong winds surged from it, whipping her clothes and hair as they blew past her. In wonder, she felt them swirl around the floor, picking up dust and debris until they spun around in a mad dance around them. Shelves and tables rightened themselves, pulled into place by unseen hands. Chairs mended before her very eyes before obediently placing themselves under her restored table. In less than a minute, her living room stood pristine before her, as if nothing had ever happened. No, better than nothing – everything was spotless, not a single mote of dust on any surface.

She turned open-mouthed to her Servant, who was watching her with pride and amusement in her scarlet eyes. She huffed and turned her head up haughtily. "Hmph. I could have done that, if I wasn't drained from summoning you. If you think that's enough to impress me, you're sorely mistaken."

"I would be disappointed if you were," laughed Gilgamesh, light and airy as if smiling at the antics of a precocious child. "And what might your name be, little mage who is so very unimpressed?"

"Tohsaka Rin." This felt like progress of a sort, although she didn't care much for the patronizing tone. "You can call me Rin."

"Then rejoice, Rin, for you have only begun to witness my wonders. Now come! The night is yet young, and I wish to see my kingdom."

Metal boots padded against soft carpets before clinking on her best polished floors, as carelessly as if on dirt. The king held her head high as she strode towards the living room door, which opened wide at her approach.

"Wait! Where do you think you're going?"

"What is the use of beauty, if not to display it? What is the nature of a king, if not to claim her property? Out there skulk six pretenders to the title of hero, six thieves seeking my treasure. I will crush each one with grace and beauty! You wish to see my true power, my full glory? Prepare to feast your eyes!"

Rin found herself chasing those golden footsteps, down the hallway and towards the front chamber.

"Saber, wait!"

"Saber?" Gilgamesh turned to look at her, her noble brow creased with disdain. "If you must address me by something as dull as my Class, then at least do so properly. I am Archer."

"Archer? But Saber is the strongest class."

"To those poor enough to hold only one sword, perhaps. But the king holds a vault of them, as numerous as stars in the sky. Limit myself to a single one? Hah!"

"I don't understand. You're saying you have lots of Noble Phantasms?"

"I only need one, Rin. If you please me, perhaps I shall allow you to fully witness it. Fuhahaha!"

Her laughter rang through the night air, the rich vibrations carrying far on the breeze. Rin winced, thinking of what enemy might be observing them even now – to say nothing of her neighbours.

She watched the woman striding confidently down the pavement, as out of place as a dragon in a dog run, and heaved a great sigh of exhaustion and doubt and spent rage.

_What have I gotten myself into, Father?_

* * *

**Author's note: **A big thank you to Exstarsis and Pallan Minerva, who encouraged my madness and made this story far better than it would otherwise have been. They both write far better Fate fic than I ever could, and you should absolutely check out their work if you haven't already done so.

According to Nasu, Fem!Gil would have a more Nero-like personality than the arrogant bastard we all know from F/SN. But it just doesn't feel like Gil if she's gone more than five minutes without calling someone a mongrel. So consider this some kind of unholy hybrid of the two, and suffer along with me.


	2. Chapter 2

"Archer!"

Rin ran down the street, her slippers slapping against hard pavement as she chased her wayward Servant. The weather was unseasonably warm, enough that she didn't miss her coat _too _much, but the night breeze against her face still chilled her. The lamp posts were few and far between in Miyama town , but the full moon bathed the street in silvery light. More than enough to see the proud figure walking ahead of her.

Gilgamesh ate up the ground with long strides, her eyes flitting back and forth as she surveyed her surroundings. Her nose crinkled slightly as she glanced at the stately foreign houses hidden behind high brick walls, shadowed under old trees and electrical poles. The faint hum of their wires just audible over the metallic echoes of her steps.

Rin lunged forward and caught the woman's hand, her fingers tightening around the cold metal of her gauntlet. "Archer!" she hissed. "You can't just wander around as you please. We need a plan."

Her Servant came to an easy halt as she turned to consider her, mouth curled up in an infuriating smirk. "On the contrary, Rin," she said, "You'll find I can go anywhere I please. But if it would make you feel better, by all means, plan."

_God, this woman! _Every word from her mouth was a provocation, made all the worse because she wasn't even trying to annoy Rin. She just managed it with every haughty toss of that proud head, every arch of those elegant brows. Unbelievable.

She huffed and crossed her arms. "We can expect to encounter the enemy at night, as _reasonable _Servants—" she glared at Gilgamesh, whose smirk merely widened, "—know to avoid attention. Fighting tonight would not be to our advantage." She looked over her shoulder towards her house, and the siren call of a warm bed. "Let's call it a night. Tomorrow you can follow me in spirit form, and I'll show you the important places around town."

"A sound plan, perhaps, for a lesser Servant. For one such as me, your suggestion is merely boring."

"Excuse me?" Rin scowled, not quite believing her ears.

"The moon is bright and the city spreads beneath us! With the king at your side, you need fear no danger. And as I said, I wish to see how my garden has bloomed. We shall go now."

"It's past two in the morning," growled the magus. "It will take at least an hour to walk downtown, let alone scout all the locations. We are going to rest, and start fresh tomorrow."

"Ah, I see. You mean that allowances must be made for your frailty." She ignored Rin's indignant sputters as she scanned the street, a hawk in search of its prey.

"You'd better not be planning on carrying me around," frowned Rin. Not that the idea was entirely unappealing—_no, no, bad thoughts_. _Why must she be so unfairly gorgeous?_

"Hah! You've yet to earn that honour, Rin. Although it would hardly be the first time I've held a maiden in my arms."

She shot her Servant her darkest look. "Are you trying to be funny?"

Gilgamesh merely smirked at her, that damnable curl of lips that she was already becoming painfully familiar with. All the worse because it looked so natural on that radiant face, for surely the unconquered sun could wear no other expression.

"Then if a suitable steed would satisfy your concerns," her smile growing a few degrees wider, "let us procure one."

"Fine," sighed the magus in surrender. Clearly she would get no rest until this impossible woman got her way. "I'll go call a cab."

She pivoted on her heel, ready to return to the manor. Necessity had forced her to learn the phone number for the local taxi service by heart from a young age, after all. She winced, knowing that this was going to be a very odd ride, her sitting in the back giving the driver instructions as she muttered continually to herself. She could only hope that the driver would be discreet, or her reputation was definitely going to take a hit.

"Are you coming?" she called impatiently over her shoulder.

But her Servant hadn't moved. She was standing still, her head turned in the direction of one of her neighbours' driveways.

Rin strained to see what she was looking at, and her eyes widened as she spotted it.

"Oh no," she started off towards her servant, "no, no, no, no, no! We're _not_ stealing—"

"Of course we're not stealing." Confidence billowed off Gilgamesh as she strode towards the motorcycle, a great beast of gold and chrome. "Everything in this world belongs to me, so this vehicle is mine. You cannot steal from yourself."

Her conviction was so unshakable that for a moment, Rin found herself believing it too. Then she blinked, and the spell was broken.

"Archer! _Listen to me_, you can't just take it!"

But the Servant had already grabbed the handlebars, as naturally as if she were grabbing the reins of her favourite horse. She had scarcely turned to grin at Rin when an ear-splitting electronic shriek cut through the air.

Rin clapped her hands over her ears in a futile effort to stave off the noise. "Car alarm! We have to go!"

Gilgamesh only reached under the seat panels, seeking the source of the noise. Rin sacrificed one of her eardrums to yank on her sleeve. She might as well have been pulling at a block of iron for all the progress she made. Why wouldn't the infuriating woman just _move already_?

"Ah-ha!" said her Servant with a triumphant smirk (_and really, did she have any other expressions?_) There was a tortured scream of tearing metal, a sickening crunch, and silence descended once more. She turned to Rin, grinning as she held aloft a tangled mass of wires and shattered circuits. "The king's peace is thus restored. You may praise me."

Unbelievable. Rin took a sharp breath, ready to launch a tirade that would burn even the most pompous of ears. But just as she was about to let her Servant have it, there came the sharp creak of a door opening in the still night.

"Hey! Hey, what the _fuck_ do you think you're doing?"

A man stood silhouetted in the light streaming from the doorframe, but Rin didn't need to see him to sense his scowl. He looked thin and wiry in pajamas that hung a little too loose on him, but he didn't need to be a physical threat to promise her plenty of trouble.

"Good evening," she bowed, automatically slipping on her mask of the polite schoolgirl, even if it seemed a bit broken in the shadowed hours. "I'm sorry, but my friend and I are lost. If we could impose on you for directions—"

"Yeah?" he snorted derisively. "You think lost means putting your filthy paws on my bike? You'd better—"

"Rin, who is this vulgar lout?"

Gilgamesh stepped forward with all the cool arrogance of an empress, an impression only reinforced by the flash of her golden armor in the faint light. Her lips curled in disdain as she watched him scramble backwards as if she were made of flame.

"You there. I require the keys to this vehicle."

He stared at her for a moment longer, taking in every inch of her with roving eyes. Perhaps understandable, for Archer would command attention in any era by sheer force of presence as well as her outstanding physique. Raw sensuality poured off the king in waves, accentuating rather than weakening the authority carried in her crimson gaze and superior smirk. Still, at least Rin had the decency not to openly gawk -

She startled when Gilgamesh snapped her fingers. "Hurry, man. The king commands you."

That seemed to wake the man from his trance as well, for his eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion. "I don't care who you are, lady! I'm not handing over my baby!" He glowered as he pulled a flip-phone from his breast pocket. "Now get out of here, before I call the police."

Gilgamesh's sneer deepened, the flash of her white teeth making the expression positively predatory. Rin's heart beat a mad tempo as the first fingers of panic squeezed her brain. If she didn't do something, her Servant was going to murder a bystander on the very first night of the War. Simply knocking him out wouldn't cut it anymore, not when he had so clearly seen both their faces.

Only one thing to do, however unfortunate. She was already weak from mana exhaustion, but it looked like she was going to have to push it a little harder tonight.

She cursed under her breath and stepped forward, slipping a hand into her pocket. As she expected, the man ignored her entirely until she was almost upon him. Rin steadied herself, taking a deep breath, then slapped him. Hard.

There was a short pause, and then outraged eyes turned upon her. The red imprint on his cheek filled her with an undignified but vicious sense of satisfaction. It was perhaps the first hint of control she'd had all evening.

As he opened his mouth, undoubtedly to launch into some diatribe, she raised the blue topaz directly in front of his eyes. _Water, the silver element of absorption and manipulation. _The icy stone glowed and pulsed in sympathy with the light from her flaring crest.

"_Schleier der Nacht für deine Augen_!" she intoned, the spell vibrating where her fingertips touched the gem, before leaping into the man's bewildered eyes. Ephemeral liquid sloshed over the wet membranes, coating them in shimmering silver before being fully absorbed. As the last drops vanished, the man turned to face her, his expression slack and unfocused.

"Somebody stole your bike tonight," she said, carefully enunciating each word so there would be no room for misunderstanding. "They smashed your alarm and they were halfway out the driveway by the time you came out to confront them. It was dark and you didn't get a good look at them."

She hesitated, wondering if she should add more, but quickly decided against it. Memory spells were tricky and unreliable at the best of times. The more complicated the veil she tried to weave, the more it would catch and tear as his mind inevitably struggled to fill in the gaps and inconsistencies. Her spell would probably be enough to protect them for the next few days, but the thread would inevitably fray over time. And from then on, he would be seized with an inexplicable but strong dislike for her every time they crossed paths. Or, the Lord forbid, he spotted Gilgamesh in all her blazing and very memorable arrogance.

_If I wasn't already a suspicious figure among the neighbours, this would be the blow to seal it_.

She turned to find Gilgamesh watching her, a small smile playing on those proud lips. The Servant nodded at her, a token of approval for a retainer who has just performed adequately on some mundane task.

Rin frowned as she once again considered yelling at her Servant - _how many times had it been tonight_? - but finally managed to wrestle her anger back into its cage. However satisfying it might feel, it wouldn't get her anywhere.

So instead she strode past the dazed man into the house. She grabbed a likely-looking set of keys from the front side table, then paused when she spotted the wallet. Although she didn't know much about motorcycles, even she could see that her Servant's fancy was a powerful machine, sleek and buffed to a bright polish. It was clearly its owner's pride and joy.

She sighed and quickly flipped through the wallet, memorizing the name on the driver's license. She would return the motorcycle to him as soon as the War was over, or failing that, arrange for payment. She was a Tohsaka, not a common thief. She would keep a mental record of all her debt and settle it as soon as she had the chance.

_Archer's already cost me half my fortune just to summon her. At this rate, she's going to eat through the other half by the end of the War!_

She grimaced as she walked back out into the night. A quick glance at the dark windows in the houses down the street suggested the neighbours had decided the earlier ruckus was a malfunctioning alarm, and gone back to sleep. _Thank God for small mercies_.

She had barely taken another step when the keys were deftly snatched from her hand.

"Very good," smirked Gilgamesh as she swung herself onto the bike. She grinned in anticipation, grabbing and releasing the handlebars in sheer delight, before turning to Rin. "Now get on. I wish to see how this beast roars."

She folded her arms. "I'm the Master here. Shouldn't I be driving?"

Archer laughed dismissively. "Don't be foolish! A king forges her own path; she does not follow." She straightened herself up in the seat, eyes fixed challengingly upon the horizon. The very picture of a mighty commander setting out on campaign.

She was very attractive, too. Rin couldn't deny the classic appeal of her beautiful face, with its sculpted cheekbones and elegant nose set above full lush lips. _If only she weren't such a raging narcissist_._ All the beauty in the world can't make up for such a personality!_

"This is just an excuse for you to have fun, isn't it?" she accused.

"Everything I do should be fun!" grinned Gilgamesh. "Even the beasts of the field know to frolic as much as work. If you call yourself human, learn at least that much." She pointed imperiously at the seat behind her. "Now get on. The night wears on, and I wish to ride."

"This isn't a game!" said Rin angrily.

"No," agreed the Archer, "it is not. But there is no reason not to mix pleasure with duty whenever one can. Lighten up a little, woman! You are as dull as that gloomy underground queen."

The golden Servant ran her hand greedily over the smooth metal of the motorcycle's side, petting it as if it were a favourite mare. As much as Gilgamesh dripped pure sex appeal and power, there was something endearingly pure about the eagerness that shone in her eyes.

Rin couldn't help a small smile as she planted her foot on the peg and swung herself into place behind her Servant. There was very little room on the one-seater, forcing her to press herself up against Gilgamesh's lean and very warm back. There were no handles, so surely she had no choice but to wrap her arms around that slender waist, resting her hands on soft skin that did nothing to hide the toned muscles underneath.

The blonde hair cascading around her smelled of cedar smoke and honey, and just a faint bit of musk that sent all the wrong signals to Rin's hormones. Not to mention that this position, riding behind her on a bike made to seat one, was… well, intimate. The sort of things girls did with their boyfriends.

_Where did that come from? _she frowned to herself. _Okay, she's gorgeous, but I shouldn't _-

A strong vibration ran like a shock through her hips as the motorcycle roared to life underneath her. It hummed through the metal frame, raw power that somehow felt more intimidating than magic in its unfamiliarity. Gilgamesh grinned as her hand tightened on the throttle.

"Wait, no! I haven't even told you where we're gAAAAAAHHHH!"

The motorcycle took off with a screech of tires on pavement as they plunged into the night. The acceleration made her stomach lurch and choked off the scream rising in her throat. Desperately she tightened her grip around Archer's bare waist, hard enough to have injured an ordinary human. But the blonde only laughed uproariously as the wind howled around them, whipping blonde tresses in Rin's face faster than she could spit them out.

Belatedly her Servant's aptitudes, supplied by the Grail, swam into focus as a mental image of old parchment inscribed in midnight ink. She had no time to dwell on powers, except to notice the distinct _lack _of any riding skill.

"Archer!" she yelled furiously against the rushing air. "Archer, what are you _doing_? Slow -"

Her voice was entirely drowned out by the engine's angry growl as Gilgamesh threw it into high gear. She swore she could _feel_ the tires momentarily leave the pavement as they flew down the hill.

"Fuhahaha!" That rich laugh carried in the wind. "It may not be my Vimana, but this speed is good! May all witness the king's splendour!"

Her life felt as if it hung on a thin wire, suspended between the howling air and the thundering of her heart in her ears. _So young to die_, she thought distantly to herself as they ran through the first of many red lights. _Killed on the very first night of the War, by my own Servant_.

A mental image of her father rose up before her, his eyes looking down at her with cold disapproval. She shook her head against the black cloth of her Servant's back. _No_, she told herself firmly, _I did not train ten years just to let my Servant careen us into a ravine! Get a grip on things, Rin!_

She forced herself forward against the air pressure, moving her head through streaming blonde hair until her mouth was level with Gilgamesh's ear. "Archer, I need you to slow down! I can't give you instructions if - _Archer_!"

She might as well have been speaking to a brick wall, for all the impact of her words. The golden king was entirely caught up in her race, her eyes fixed on the horizon as she gripped the throttle.

_So that's how it's going to be_? The magus smiled grimly. _Fine, then you leave me no choice._

Before she could rethink her own audacity, she leaned further forward and shoved her hand directly in front of the Servant's face. It was deliberately turned to show off her crimson seals, gleaming red in the moonlight.

The message was clear enough for Archer to turn her head and glare at her. "Mongrel, you would _dare_?"

"If that's what it takes to make you at least listen, then yes!" Rin ignored the rushing wind and speeding pavement as the bike hurtled down the road. She had to trust that their luck would hold for another moment, because she could not afford to look away from this. "We're fighting this war_ together,_" she said, "I'm notgoing to sit back and let you ignore me!"

There was a dangerous silence as red eyes considered her, the same cool assessment the king had turned on her earlier back at the manor. Rin still didn't much care for it, but she forced herself to let her gaze speak for her.

Finally Archer turned back to the road. "Then do not speak nonsense, woman. The king does not take _instructions_," she said, pronouncing the word with obvious disdain, "and certainly not from her handmaiden."

"Who agreed to be your handmaiden, you insufferable -!"

"I may consider _suggestions_," the golden king continued, her charisma-filled voice drowning out Rin's dissent, "But do not presume to decide for your king. Remember your place, mongrel."

She angled the bike to the side, just in time to follow the road and avoid crashing straight through someone's living room window. Rin hissed out a sigh of relief instinctively, then scowled when she felt an amused chuckle run through her Servant. She could easily imagine the superior smirk on those gorgeous lips. _Why is her hearing that good, on top of everything else? This is unfair!_

Rin clenched her fist as she glared at the back of that proud head, feeling the seals burn against her skin. She was tempted to use one anyway, just to make a point, but her wiser instincts screamed against it. _I have to pick my battles carefully with this one. A lioness is an overgrown cat - _she found herself smiling at the thought, despite the seriousness of the situation - _with all the temperament of one. She won't respect timidity, but she'll also hate any attempt to chain her. If I use a command seal to force her to do something, that will be the last time she ever willingly listens to me. And I don't have nearly enough seals to fight a war like that._

So instead she leaned back in her seat and huffed. "I suppose this is fine," she said loftily, "since I wanted to show you the city anyway. This is certainly not how I would have chosen to do this -"

"Of course not. The king's way is far superior to whatever drudgery you had planned."

"- as I favour a _reasoned _approach," said Rin, pausing to let that sink in - to no avail, judging from Archer's dismissive snort, "but you're seeing the battlefield either way."

"Do not speak to me of battlefields, mongrel," said Gilgamesh, "I have seen more and mightier than you could ever dream of."

"Maybe, but you've never seen this particular one." _That you remember, anyway_, Rin thought to herself, but choked it down. It wasn't helpful to her at the moment, and so she made no mental space for it. "But fine. You're the veteran conqueror. I'll just sit back and watch you at work, shall I?"

"Finally you show some sense. Perhaps you are not entirely incorrigible after all. "

Rin sighed, but for once she refused to rise to the challenge. She was exhausted, and things did seem to be progressing. Admittedly it was in no way according to the plan she had meticulously drawn up over the last decade, but a magus had to show herself adaptable. _Even if fate really does have a terrible sense of humour_.

At least Archer had slowed down her breakneck pace a bit, although Rin suspected that was less due to her request, and more for reasons of her own. They were still running every red light and the magus dreaded the screaming sirens of a police car at any moment, but at least she could look out over the landscape now without being assailed by immediate vertigo.

Archer was clearly taking in the city, leaning back in her seat as she surveyed Miyama town's expanse of residential houses and paved streets.

"Hmmph!" She glanced at a row of gray concrete rowhouses, some of the more modern constructions on this side of Fuyuki. With almost all of their lights out, they looked like shapeless gray masses squatting at the end of the road.

Then she looked towards the telephone poles, with their tangled masses of wires, and her shoulders tensed. "Unacceptable," she sneered as she guided the bike around a bend in the road. The patchwork of green bushes and old pines growing on each side only seemed to irritate her further.

"What's wrong?" Rin leaned forward, once again bringing her chin next to her Servant's ear so they could communicate over the steady purr of the engine. "Did you sense a bounded field? Some sign of the enemy?"

"The only enemy here is a dire lack of imagination," sneered Archer.

"... what?" Rin blinked in utter confusion.

"Look!" Gilgamesh waved her hand imperiously to sweep their surroundings, completely indifferent to the fact that it left the bike half-controlled. She was far too caught up in her passion to care. "This city is dull and gray! Nothing but ugly blocks and empty streets! How dare you bring your king to a place like this?"

"Dull and gray," repeated Rin incredulously.

"Where are the processionals and the grand avenues?" Archer pointed to the walls of brown brick that lined the road. "There should be murals to celebrate my triumphs! Gates of lapis lazuli and carnelian, adorned with stalking lions and great beasts!" She sneered at a particularly sorry-looking tree in the distance. "Fragrant trees and flowers to please the senses!"

"_Flowers_," said Rin, her voice sliding higher as disbelief gave way to indignation._ She can't possibly be serious!_

"And where are the people?" asked Archer. "Everything is so lifeless here. Where are the ringing smithies and night markets? Where are the soldiers and the moon priestesses? Dull, dull, it's all unforgivably dull!"

"You-!" Rin raised a hand to massage her temple, hoping to ward off a swiftly oncoming headache. "Let me get this straight. We are in the middle of the Holy Grail War - a fight to the _death _against six magi and their champions - and you're worried about _flowers _and _night markets_?"

Rin didn't even try to mask her outrage. She had spent more than a year painstakingly mapping out Fuyuki for the war. She had scouted the city from its highest points, memorized the movement of its crowds, identified likely arenas for the bloody battles she would wage. And here Archer was treating their patrol as a... a _sight-seeing tour?_

"The War is already won," sniffed Gilgamesh disdainfully, "for the king can hardly lose. I am concerned with more important matters, mongrel. I wished to see how my garden has thrived in my absence." Her golden brows furrowed in displeasure. "I am not impressed. Humanity has been negligent in its care. How long has it been since I entrusted you with it?"

Rin's instinct for academics set her tongue in motion before she could stop herself. "More than four thousand years, but -"

"Long enough," interrupted Gilgamesh, "to achieve something better than _this_."

Rin knew she should shut up. Let the arrogant spirit say her peace. The War would be over within weeks, so nothing she said truly mattered. _And at least Archer is talking about actual beauty_. _She's not waxing on about God's artistry as painted in suffering like Kirei always does, with his twisted portraits and photographs. This may be annoying, but it's harmless_.

And yet she found herself unaccountably irritated at having her home insulted right in front of her. She had grown up in Fuyuki, and although it had brought her untold pain and loneliness, it had given her good memories too.

So she crossed her arms and glared at Archer. "Fuyuki is fine just the way it is," she said. "Maybe it doesn't fit all your kingly criteria, but it's practical. People need to live."

"The small-minded view of a peasant," sneered Gilgamesh. "Things should be useful _and _beautiful."

"There are plenty of beautiful things here, too," snapped Rin. "You've already decided what you want to see, so you won't acknowledge anything different."

She was taken aback by her own defensiveness, for the topic should have left her entirely indifferent. She was a magus, far beyond the world of mundane things. But she found herself of the rolling green in the park where she used to play with her si- well, where she used to play. The smiles and laughter of her classmates as she watched them from the classroom windows, even if she could never truly join them. A certain auburn haired boy, his face set in a frown as he picked himself up in the autumn sunset. And she found herself filled with indignation on their behalf.

She opened her mouth to launch into a lecture when she noticed the way Archer was smirking at her. She had the oddest feeling she had just fallen into some sort of trap.

Archer's eyes glinted. "Then I expect to be shown something beautiful, mongrel. You have until the end of this War to do so. Prove yourself worthy of serving me."

Rin snarled as she clenched her fist again. _I'm going to kill her. No, first I'm going to use a command seal to make her apologize for being so incredibly aggravating, then I'm going to kill her._

She forced herself to take deep breaths. _Elegance and dignity. Remember the Tohsaka creed_. Little by little, she felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. _I need to keep my wits about me. I don't know how Father lost, but he did. And with this Servant, no less. I can't afford to be careless_.

The winter air was cold as it streamed past her, but it did help steady her thoughts. _Focus. Even if Archer is focused on all the wrong things, this is still reconnaissance. I just need to get things back on track_.

"Since you're open to suggestions," said Rin, letting a touch of sarcasm slip into her tone, "We should see the Ryuudou Temple. As the keystone of the local leylines, it's inevitable that -"

"A temple?" Archer sounded interested, if not exactly enthusiastic. There was an odd edge to her tone that Rin couldn't quite discern. "Where is this temple?"

Rin automatically pointed westwards. "See that mountain in the distance, with all the trees? The temple gate is -" she watched in horror as the golden gauntlet retightened its grip on the throttle. "- wait, no! ARCHEEER!"

The beast roared to life again, throwing itself down the pavement with all the manic speed of a racing dragon. Rin clung on for dear life, her Servant's wild laughter ringing in her ears.

* * *

Caught up in their bickering, the pair were too preoccupied to notice a new set of red eyes tracking the motorcycle's progress as it careened through the maze of streets. Lancer shifted on his rooftop perch, a feral grin spreading across his face. Things were finally looking up after nights of boring surveillance in this boring town, all at the behest of his fraud of a Master.

He could still hear the distant strains of gleeful laughter on the wind. Gold armor, killer thighs and enough attitude to fill a banquet hall. Exactly the kind of woman he'd enjoy a tumble with, or even better, a fight. Ideally both, in whatever order. It would be glorious, too - she practically radiated power under her ferocious smile.

He wanted nothing more than to challenge her in battle immediately, to fall on her like a panther and see what tricks she had to go with her gaudy armor. But the burn of the command seals pinned his essence and pulled him back. He had special instructions about this precise Servant. Lancer did not know how the damnable priest had predicted her arrival, but the bastard had managed to ruin even this for him.

_Damn it! _His entire body strained with his desire to hunt her down and _finally _have a duel worth all the shame and tedium he'd endured. But no, his Master's orders chained him as tightly as his most powerful geas. Another humiliation piled on his shoulders, to add to the outrage that awaited him back at the church.

_The church_. Lancer swallowed his rage and hefted his spear back over his shoulder. He still had to give his report. He gave a last longing look towards the flash of gold he could still spy in the distance, then grit his teeth and returned to his Master.

* * *

Twenty minutes of hard riding, and Rin's desperate but futile wish for dawn and some end to this madness, brought them to the parking space at the foot of Mount Enzou. Beyond there was no more road or pavement, only the stone steps leading up the forested slope. Dark pines stretched up on either side of the first toriigate, silent sentinels that followed the paved stairway up the slope towards the deeper sanctuary. The stone lanterns were lit even in the darkness before morning, pale flames flickering in the gloom.

Rin slid off the bike and approached the mouth of the path. As forbidding as the temple steps looked in the dark, it was nothing compared to the mana miasma that pulsed in the air and through the ground. Much too thickly, in fact. She shuddered with the force of it, steel wire and thunderclouds grating against her senses.

As the keystone of her land's leylines, the temple always radiated power to those that were sensitive to it, even to ordinary humans as a sense that they walked on sacred land. That power was also an open invitation to rival Masters that might favour brute power over remaining hidden in the tangled streets of the city. But where Rin had reasonably expected to encounter a Bounded Field or other traces of a Servant, she was entirely taken aback by the sheer sizzling force of the caged mana in the air. _The earth is angry here_, she thought, and shivered.

She turned towards her own Servant, who was gazing up the stairs,a gauntleted hand caressing her chin thoughtfully. "Archer. Do you feel it too?"

"Yes. For the amount of _melam_ this land holds, I would have expected pillars of gold and lapis." The Servant was gazing up the stairs, a gauntleted hand caressing her chin thoughtfully. "But for once, I approve of this subdued approach. The gods should not be showered mindlessly with things they have not earned."

"_Archer!_" hissed Rin. Here they were surrounded by magecraft of the most hostile sort, and the infernal woman once again seemed hellbent on missing the point of the exercise. "I _know _you can sense the aura here. So _why_," she choked back on the urge to scream, "Are you worried about the aesthetics of the temple, and _not the magic that might kill us both_?"

"Your hysteria is most unbecoming, Rin," sniffed Gilgamesh dismissively. "The grounds may smell of the Cedar Forest, but that is hardly of concern to the king."

"Cedar Forest," a flat tone rang in her voice. She looked around at the surrounding forests. "Those are pine trees."

"Do not be impertinent, mongrel," said Archer with a sharp frown. "I speak of the great beast Humbaba. This ground smells of a similar guardian." There was a touch of melancholy on that proud brow, so fleeting that Rin almost missed it. Then it disappeared entirely into a look of bored superiority. "A reed that shall bend in my great winds, but I suppose it may provide some temporary amusement."

"So let me get this straight," Rin gritted out. "You're telling me there is likely a phantasmal beast lurking here, and you're more concerned with whether the temple is beautiful." Rin could have grabbed her by her very minimal clothing and shaken her, if not for every self-preservation recoiling at the thought. Instead she crossed her arms and glared at her. "What is this obsession with beauty?"

"Hmph!" The golden king's chin tilted to a particularly haughty angle. "You stand before your king in all her glory, and dare to question the importance of beauty?"

"Yes," said Rin matter-of-factly. "I am a magus. I deal in practicalities, not flights of fancy. If it can't help me achieve my goals, then it's not worth thinking about."

Archer frowned disapprovingly at her. "A foolish answer, and one you do not believe. Do not insult us both, mongrel."

"I am entirely serious!"

"Power without beauty and joy is an abomination," said the Servant, her crimson eyes gleaming in the dark. "It is a view fit only for gods and monsters, not for humanity. Hmph! Even Humbaba knew to trade his auras for the splendour of a simple flower. As my subject, I demand you hold yourself to _at least _that standard."

Rin opened her mouth to protest when Archer traced a lazy circle in the air with her hand. The magus was immediately reminded of the golden disk that had appeared back in the manor.

"My vaults hold more treasures then a petty magus could possibly imagine in all their greediest dreams. And yet I chose a new steed for myself this night. Do you understand why, mongrel?"

"To make my life as difficult as possible."

Gilgamesh only smirked. "Because it brought me joy, and with that, satisfaction. You should look towards the same, little mage."

Rin crossed her arms defiantly. "I'll have all the satisfaction I need once I win the Grail."

"That is what you strive for?"

"I've been working towards this my entire life. I won't fail," said the magus, staring up the stone steps at the darkness beyond the lanterns.

"Good," said the king approvingly, much to the magus' surprise. "The greatest beauty of all lies in ambition."

Rin blinked. "Ambition," she repeated carefully.

"Of course," said Archer easily. "All the shining weapons and precious treasures of my vault are beautiful not just for themselves, but for the pride and effort that went into making them."

She smiled, her teeth lifting with more than a touch of greed. "Lives that throw themselves against their own limits. That struggle to achieve the impossible, whether that is forging the greatest of blades, or cutting their own binding chains. That is beauty, mongrel. No amount of gold or silk could begin to compare."

Rin wanted to snort when a memory drifted to mind, seeping in despite her best efforts. _A warm autumn evening, the whisper of grass under her feet as she walked past the athletics field. A red-haired boy, his face slicked with sweat, was launching himself again and again at a pole vault he could not master. It was pointless, absolutely pointless, but it was also beautiful in its determination and the pure feeling she sensed underneath it. It had been the first thing to warm her heart in years, the heart she had thought forever buried under ice. The one she struggled to freeze again whenever she caught sight of his somber face._

She felt a bit of the same thaw now, staring at the proud face of her impossible Servant. For the first time in a decade, she found herself believing that perhaps it was okay to think beyond the Holy Grail War. To consider other things she might want.

_Broad shoulders and a warm self-effacing smile. A pink ribbon carefully tied in violet hair. A box of gemstones, considered not for their magical power but for their simple appeal._

A fanciful dream, unfit for a magus of her calibre. But just for a moment, perhaps she could indulge in it.

She was called back to earth when Archer shifted impatiently next to her. "Hmph. I have seen what I wished to see, and I tire of this place. Let us be off."

Rin nodded, hoping her Servant had not noticed her embarrassing lack of focus on the enemy's doorstep. "That's a good idea. I'm still exhausted from the summoning, and you still need to get your bearings. Let's come back when we're fully rested."

Archer gave her a superior smirk. "Nothing here could be a threat to me, were you drained entirely and halfway into your grave. But come, I shall return to conquer this beast when it pleases me. For now, I would see more of my garden."

Gilgamesh walked imperiously back to the motorcycle, leaving Rin to scramble after her. She had scarcely swung herself in behind her Servant when Archer eagerly revved the engine, launching them forward down the dark road. The magus couldn't help but glance over her shoulder at the rapidly receding outline of the mountain slope and its lonely steps. She blinked. For a moment, she could have sworn she saw a solitary figure standing behind the gate, tall in robes of purplish-midnight. Then the bike roared as it turned the corner with alarming speed and it disappeared from sight.

* * *

Driving to Shintou inevitably meant crossing the great bridge, a crimson monster spanning the river with massive girders and arches as its claws. Gilgamesh frowned as she drove over the rattling grating, not once reducing speed regardless of the signage.

"Hmph! Finally a splash of colour, and they chose this garish red."

"I like red," groused Rin, but not without hiding a smile against the king's shoulder. To her own surprise, now that she was growing used to the bike, she was enjoying herself.

The air rushing around her was colder than she would have liked - especially considering she'd left her coat behind in her mad dash to catch up to her Servant - but there was a certain thrill to the freezing wind stinging her cheeks and pulling at her sweater. And while her Servant might be absolutely infuriating in every respect, there was also something compelling about the woman - and not just because Rin had a perfect excuse to wrap her arms tightly around that stunningly beautiful body.

_Beauty in ambition. Splendour in pushing yourself against your limits_. A curious creed for a woman that acted as if everything was beneath her. _Then what could she possibly be seeking from this conflict?_

Rin would never admit to any flaws, but perhaps sometimes she might be a touch curious. Surely that was what made her lean forward, resting her chin again on that shoulder and breathing in the cedar-sweet scent of that golden hair.

"Archer, why do you even want the Grail? You act as if you already have everything, so what wish could you possibly want from it?"

Gilgamesh didn't even deign to look at her. "It is not a matter of wishes, mongrel. I responded to your summons on a whim, nothing more. Certainly nothing so vulgar as bribes of power, for what could this petty ritual possibly offer that I do not already own?" Rin didn't need to see her face to hear the superior smirk in the Archer's voice. "I shall reclaim the Grail for the simple reason that it is already mine. None are worthy of holding it."

Rin nodded. "That's fine. It's all yours once we've won."

There was a rare flicker of interest in Archer's eyes when she pivoted in her seat. "You have no wish, mongrel? Not for the trappings of power or riches?"

"I don't need anything so cheap," said Rin with a shrug. "I will win the Grail because that is my family's legacy and my responsibility. But I don't need it to grant my wishes. I don't need anything I can't grasp with my own two hands."

There was a pause, then Archer grinned at her, crimson eyes flashing once again. "Very good. That is the first sensible thing you've said all night."

Rin felt her indignation rise to a flash boil again, made all the worse by the treacherous part that wanted to preen under Archer's approval. _This is ridiculous. She's a Servant, a tool. I shouldn't care what she thinks!_

"Need I remind you that I'm your _Master_, you insufferable woman!" she growled, earning herself another gale of shameless laughter. Rin threw herself back into her seat and fell into contemplation. She certainly did not sulk, no matter how it might have looked to an outside observer.

Eventually Archer's mirth died away, and they rode in silence for a little while. The night was brighter now, illuminated by the street lights of downtown Shinto. Rin was still learning to read her Servant's moods, but she could sense Archer's growing displeasure by the tension in her back and shoulders. If she had regarded the residential blocks of Miyama Town with a certain amount of condescension, it was nothing compared to the baleful stare she directed at the brightly-coloured billboards and flashing screens of the commercial district.

"Eyesores," sneered Archer at last. "How dare they pollute my garden with such garishness?"

"It's the way of the modern world," shrugged Rin, but not without an internal wince. "This isn't so bad - you should see the displays they have in Tokyo."

The magus had never really considered what Fuyuki might look like to a champion from humanity's dawn. Among the many burnt offerings she had placed upon the altar of her craft was the luxury of considering things outside of the advantages they offered her. Even her excursions into town always had a secondary purpose to them - purchasing essential supplies, building her image. Everything calculated, and everything for a purpose.

Now that she was looking at the trappings of modern society with fresh eyes, she had to reluctantly admit that Archer had a point. A lot of it was, well, ugly.

"It's complicated," she finally offered. "And people have their own tastes."

"Mine is the only taste that matters, for this is _my_ garden," spat Archer. "I did not fight the gods for humanity only to see it stagnate like this. _This _is where you spend your efforts - on petty greed and ugly disputes."

"It's not like in your days," protested Rin. "Humanity is no longer at the mercy of gods and phantasmal beasts now. It's natural that people have other concerns."

_No, now it's being torn apart by greed and thoughtlessness_. She shook her head to clear the thought from her mind. She was a magus. She was above the concerns of mundane humanity, her vision fixed towards the Root and all its wonders. And yet...

"Humanity should know better than to drown out the stars," sniffed Gilgamesh, "Or it will forget to reach for them."

Rin found herself following the king's gaze towards the night sky, where the pale moon was barely visible. She had never thought much about stars; although essential to certain traditions of magi, her family's jewelcraft had always kept her eyes trained on the earth rather than the firmament. But she could clearly see what her Servant meant. Even the lights of a relatively modest city like Fuyuki made the celestial bodies fade into the darkness. It seemed a shame, somehow.

"You can't even see Venus," observed Rin. "Isn't it supposed to be the brightest object in the sky?"

Suddenly Gilgamesh roared with laughter, her shoulders shaking under Rin's grip. Her sour mood seemed to have entirely vanished when she turned her head back to look at her, a gleeful smile on her lips. "Hah! Ahahahaha! Serves her right, to have humanity's light flood hers out. Perhaps this isn't so bad after all."

"What?" Rin frowned. "What light? Who are you even talking about?"

Gilgamesh dismissed her questions with a wave of her hand, but she didn't stop chuckling all the way back home. Something about that mocking laughter struck Rin as intensely irritating, even though for once she seemed not to be the target of it.

It was fortunate that she had nothing within arm's reach. Because whatever Archer's power or importance in the coming conflict, Rin wouldn't have hesitated to brain her with it.

* * *

Kirei sat in the darkened rectory, watching the flickering lights from the television screen. Lushly symphonic music played as pixelated armies clashed viciously against each other. The priest had little interest in it, but it made his guest happy, and a church should always be a place of comfort for the wayward stranger.

He did regret that without the lights, it was harder to enjoy the beautiful scenes he had painstakingly worked upon the walls. At least he could draw joy from knowing the great scarlet wings were still there underneath the shadows.

His musings were interrupted by the soft tread of boots echoing from beyond the doorway.

"Hey, you damn priest."

"Lancer." Kirei turned towards the Servant leaning carelessly in the doorway. "You've finally returned."

Bitter red eyes gleamed in the weak light from the screen, regarding Kirei with sullen anger. _Such beautiful eyes_. One day he would finally capture that look on his canvas, a hymn to the Lord's great work. He smiled to himself in the darkness.

"Your golden girl showed up," said Lancer. "Tearing around town on a bike." He shrugged, but not without an appreciative smile at the corner of his lips. "Doesn't even try to hide."

"That would not be in her nature," said Kirei.

From deeper in the room, his other companion gave a short bark of laughter, her deep voice vibrating in the still air. "Kings do not hide in times of war, but lead from the front. Even she understands that much."

Lancer glared at the two of them in growing annoyance as it became clear no further explanation would be forthcoming. Eventually he snorted, his grip tightening on his spear. "Right. So now that you know she's here, you've got no objections if I try her out?"

Kirei could have laughed. Lancer's eagerness for battle had always been his main interest in the Holy Grail War, but now it had become a distraction from his failures too. The priest briefly considered denying him, the better to savour his rage, but finally relented. He _was _a bit curious himself.

"Very well. Challenge her tomorrow, if that is your wish."

Lancer's eyes widened with surprise, before a pleased grin spread across his face.

"I will also further tailor your instructions for this particular Servant." Kirei folded his arms behind his back. "You may fight with your full strength."

A sharp hiss of eager breath.

"But only for a half hour. After that, you will retreat and report back to me."

Lancer's eyes narrowed in suspicion, before he shrugged and hefted his blood red spear. "Heh. I don't know what this is about, but I'll take it. Half an hour should be plenty of time to kill her dead."

He turned to leave, then suddenly stiffened at a low moan from the back wall, a clink of chains as a body moved in pained slumber. Cu Chulainn, proud warrior that he was, managed to keep his expression carefully blank. But his eyes glowed a shade darker, almost maroon, in his hatred and humiliation.

_Beautiful_, Kirei thought again, and rejoiced. Suffering yourself was an offering to the Lord, but nothing compared to watching someone else suffer and being unable to stop it. The mirror of God watching his son on the cross, the true nature of the divine. _How beautiful the world is, and what splendour it holds_.

Lancer stalked away, his good mood entirely vanished. For a long while afterwards, the darkness was broken up only by electronic beeps and music from the television. Then Kirei's guest leaned back, heavy boots creaking on the table.

"Giving my prey away, Kotomine? I'd kill you for the affront, if I thought the hound might actually succeed."

"Then punish your servant as you see fit," said the priest dispassionately. "I would only remind you that you yourself have seen fit to arm your fellow heroes against her."

The other snorted. "No, I'm arming them against _myself_. A victory is only as satisfying as the strength of the foe you trample underfoot. But that's of no importance now. She's finally here."

The woman grinned, white teeth glinting in the darkness. "I will enjoy breaking her again, and this time entirely under my own strength. Ten years of preparation, Kotomine. _She _sits idly upon her laurels, waxing on about her walls and vaults, but _my _army marches ever onward."

Mismatched eyes sought Kirei's own. What he saw there was set his blood racing, better than anything he had pulled from Lancer, from his ward, from all his flock as he enlightened them.

"We shall see whose dream for humanity triumphs."

* * *

**Author's note**: I have really no excuse for how long it took to post this, other than a series of conceptual blocks. Fortunately I think I've mostly worked through those, and hopefully the next chapter won't take such an abysmally long time. If you're still reading this after all this time, I can only thank you for your patience.


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